Kato FEF review

[victor miranda]

Forumers,

Of course I dropped everything today....  Because

Kato UP FEF.

Impressive lovomotive model.
It is well made.

After I ran it a bit, I pulled mine apart...
' cept I didn't rip into the motor case.
When Kato has them for sale, I'll open it.

Overall, the loco is split frame design
and the tender has 8 wheels of pickup, the lead tender truck and
the last two axles. the drawbar has two wires in it. (not 4 like the gs4)
the loco's lead and trailing truck have no pickups, as expected.

you have to open the cab to find a screw holding the shell down.
and take the steam cylinders off before you remove the running boards
the front pin is easy to break off the board.
red wire on the right side... etc.
the siderods are metal as is the eccentric crank.

the model is geared at 40 to one based on me hand turning the motor
the worm has two threads cut in it
the wormwheel is 22 theeth and the countergear is 11 teeth.
I counted the driver at 36 teeth and there is an idler gear.
the gears are riding on plastic pins pressed into the frame.

the front four drivers are equalized.
the third axle is fixed and geared,
the fourth axle is sprung similar to the GS-4.

there are two flywheels

I put it back together.
I can't tell you how slow it goes...
it glides to a stop and it slowly picks up speed

It can pull a 20 car train. random 40 footers I like.
Tt pulled the train at around 15 Smph
with remarkably steady and even speed
while using 25 milliamps at 2.25 volts.

I used it to run the train I built back to collect the cars...
If you want to have fun shunting cars, this loco can do it.

my opinions and thinking:

I would like more weight in the tender...

I have no idea how long the motor will last in service
give the low current draw while pulling a train of cars
I am not expecting a short 60 to 200 hours...

I am amazed by the operating qualities of the model.
I am planning to get another when the initial rush is over
(that may take a while)
 I also want to get a sense of the new motor's long term performance
along with the replacement cost.
It will be easy to replace should the need arise.

anyone know  how to get into the tender?
if anyone has any questions please ask.


pictures  as soon as they are uploaded.

[victor miranda]

apart...


cab interior


top shell off


motor-driveshaft and flywheels with worm


the arrows point at the gear pins pressed into the frame.


equalizer bar


in action over a track variation (look at both)



something I thought pretty

[Chris333]

I love that compensation   

[C855B]

That frame is one very impressive bit of engineering.

[H Lee]

A video of one pulling a VERY long train has been posted on trainboard ---

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?161530-UP-FEF-3-844-Steams-into-Nebraska&p=1008087#post1008087

[EspeeGoldenState]

A video of one pulling a VERY long train has been posted on trainboard ---

http://www.trainboard.com/grapevine/showthread.php?161530-UP-FEF-3-844-Steams-into-Nebraska&p=1008087#post1008087

Means, that my 25 car consist should not be any issue for this thing, even with slight grades.

Chris

[muktown128]

WOW!   

Just watched the video.  Unbelievable!  I model PRR.  Definitely jealous of the UP guys for this loco. 

This looks like the loco of the year for 2014. 

Based on Victors review and this video, this loco should be flying off the shelves.  Kato will struggle to keep up with demand. 

Now two questions:
What else can Kato use this mechanism for?
How will people use the parts to upgrade other locos?

Scott

[Mike C]

  Victor, according to the video that Kato put out the tender shell just pulls up and off . It looks like there are 2 lugs on each side of the tender to hold it in position .
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FBEeNdMQJFs

[eric220]

WOW!   

Just watched the video.  Unbelievable!  I model PRR.  Definitely jealous of the UP guys for this loco. 

This looks like the loco of the year for 2014.

They may have taken 2014, but fear not. The M1 should put us a strong position for 2015.

Lest anyone mistake this as trolling, I agree this is a beautiful locomotive and set. I can't wait to see the photos and kitbashes roll in!

[superturbine]

Thanks for the review Victor!   

[garethashenden]

Is it just the front two axles that are compensated? If that is the case I can't see the point. The purpose of compensation is to keep all the drivers on the track for maximum traction and pickup. To do this you need to compensate either all axles or all but one. Is there any sort of springing on the rear axle?

[peteski]

Is it just the front two axles that are compensated? If that is the case I can't see the point. The purpose of compensation is to keep all the drivers on the track for maximum traction and pickup. To do this you need to compensate either all axles or all but one. Is there any sort of springing on the rear axle?

Victor says:
the front four drivers two axles are equalized.
the third axle is fixed and geared,
the fourth axle is sprung similar to the GS-4.

[garethashenden]

Victor says:
the front four drivers two axles are equalized.
the third axle is fixed and geared,
the fourth axle is sprung similar to the GS-4.

I suppose that's what I get for looking at the pictures and not reading the text.

[victor miranda]

I said the front four drivers because I thought it would better
state that all of those drivers are sharing one chassis suspension point.

it is the first two axles...
I also decided a pair of photos would help.
writing a good review is a struggle,
next time I'll consider photos and text in the same post.

The loco has a lot of well done details in its construction.

victor

[carlso]

Victor - thanks for taking your time to post that information for all of our use.

Carl